Wright v. McHugh, No. SA:13-CV-449-DAE, slip op. (W.D. Tex. Jan. 17, 2014)(Rodriguez, J.)

Wright was a civilian veterinarian employed by the Army to care for animals used in training for emergency and combat medical care.  Slip op. at 2. Her sitcom-caliber behaviors prompted counseling and reprimands, and she attributed these issues to an attention disorder.  Id. at 3-5.  After Wright over-anesthetized a goat, however, matters quickly went downhill and she was terminated. Id. at 5.  She turned to the EEOC to hear out her discrimination and reprisal claims, but failed to file a formal complaint within the allotted time.  But the Army rescinded its first termination notice in favor of another and Wright tried again.  Id. at 7.  The EEOC rejected her discrimination claims as untimely, but permitted the reprisal claim on the theory that the second termination letter reset the clock.  Id. at 7-8.  The District Court reached the same result in dismissing Wright’s discrimination claims under Rule 12(b)(6).  Id. at 10-19.  Additionally, it found that Wright’s failure to object to the EEOC’s framing of the issue constituted an abandonment of her discrimination claims.  Id. at 22-23.  Thus, only Wright’s reprisal claim survived Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal.  Id. at 23.